I am Caroline, right now I am living on the mainland in Ventura, CA, but will be moving permanently to No. Shore , Oahu. I can't tell you how excited to find all of you.....my son is at Waseda Univ. right now but will be coming home in July (actually I will be going to japan for 10 days in July to help bring him home). He wants to continue to eat like he has the past year, so I am starting from scratch and will need ALOT of help. This website was truly a God send. I have read so much just this day but I still have a very basic question, that I can't seem to understand:
Rice!!!!
I seem to be having a difficult time understanding what the correct one is. I have always purchased Calrose extra fancy, but I understand it is not the correct kind for the cooking I am going to be doing. I do have a source to go shopping (huge asian market, mostly Korean) so getting the rice shouldn't be a problem, but I really need to have some guidance. Of course I have other questions, but feel a bit overwhelmed right now..
Mahalo for all your help!
Caroline

Can't help with the rice, I'm afraid - here in New Zealand it comes in packets helpfully labelled "Sushi Rice". Welcome to Just Bento though, and I'm sure someone else will be able to help. And with the large Japanese population in Hawaii I think you'd just have to go into a shop and ask for it when you get there!

Luckily, a lot of the recipes on this site are so wonderful that you could probably substitute your favorite rice (or the closest approximation of the proper variety you can find), and the result will still be delicious. I would recommend that you try what you can, using what you have, and save certain recipes (things like sushi, for example) for when you have the right stuff. Good luck!

You might find this article useful: Looking at rice. For most Japanese recipes you’ll be using the kind of rice that looks like the second one pictured. Calrose (which is a Japanese type of rice that is grown in California) fits into that category. If your son has gotten into brown rice, then you will need the kind that is pictured 3rd, which is medium-grain brown rice.

Now there are many many different brands of that kind of rice, both Japanese and non-Japanese, but the important thing is that you get that sort of medium-grain rice. Prices for rice can range from the fairly inexpensive to very expensive; the ones that are actually grown in Japan (and imported to US grocery stores) tend to be the most expensive.

A few of the recipes on Just Bento / Just Hungry call for sweet or mochi or short-grain rice, but in that case I always specify it.

Really a place to be...have a nice time HaleiwaGirl!
And it's quite surprising to know that rice is not so common in countries like New Zealand.
Whereas Rice is a major part of every diet here in India.
A variety of delicacies made up of rice can be relished here.